The U.S. Treasury Department announced another six states have been approved to receive nearly $1 billion in Capital Projects Funds from the American Rescue Plan to bring new broadband infrastructure to more than 180,000 homes and businesses.
The latest tranche of CPF funds is heading to Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Utah, bringing the total number of states to have been approved for their share of the $10 billion fund to 22 states.
Previous awards were announced in June, July, August, early October and late October. According to a Treasury Department press release, the remaining funds for additional states and Tribal territories will be released on a rolling basis.
U.S. Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo said the announcement further underscored the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to invest in the expansion of reliable, affordable broadband infrastructure as the Covid pandemic “exposed the stark inequity in access to affordable and reliable high-speed Internet in communities across the country.”
This funding will lay the foundation for the Biden-Harris Administration’s historic investments to increase access to high-speed Internet and reduce Internet bills for American households and businesses.
Florida
The Sunshine State is set to receive $248 million to fund new broadband infrastructure that will connect an estimated 48,400 households and businesses, or about 10 percent of locations in Florida that do not have access to high-speed Internet. That amount accounts for 68 percent of the CPF funds Florida will receive as plans for how the state will spend the remainder of funds is still under Treasury review.
The money will be administered by Florida’s Broadband Infrastructure Program (BIP), which oversees the state’s competitive grant program to expand last mile networks in rural parts of the state. Fiber projects will be prioritized as the BIP looks to bring symmetrical 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) connectivity to unserved...
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